Aerator device

ABSTRACT

An aerator is provided having a front axle, including a differential and a tine wheel assembly which may be raised from the ground during maneuvers of the aerator while power continues to be supplied to the front axle, and a tine wheel assembly is provided which allows the operator to repair and change the configuration of the tines of the time wheel assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to lawn and garden equipment, inparticular, the present invention relates to a lawn apparatus known asan aerator. Aerators are generally used to punch holes in soil or toremove cores from soil of approximately one half inch in diameter andthree inches long to allow air and moisture and nutrients to enter thesoil.

[0002] Several problems are present in existing aerators. The mostcommon form of aerator has a reel or a tine assembly equipped withcoring tubes or tines that are positioned on the reel or the tineassembly so they extend radially outwardly from the central shaft of thereel. The tines or coring tubes, in addition to providing aeration,provide propulsion for the aerator. As the assembly rotates, the tinesrotate and punch into the ground to remove a core from the ground andalso push the aerator forward. This arrangement provides excellenttraction to propel the aerator along the lawn. However, it presents asubstantial impediment to turning the device in a sharp turn, or tomaking a turn of sufficiently small radius to allow the operator of theaerator to make a second pass across the lawn immediately laterallyadjacent to the previous pass. Typically, to accomplish a small radiusturn, the user must expend substantial effort to force the aerator intoposition by lifting the front wheels or rear wheels of the aerator withthe handle to remove the tines from the ground and to allow pivoting onone of the aerator wheels. Alternatively, if the tines are left incontact with the ground and allowed to propel the aerator, a turn havinga large radius—on the order of eight to ten feet—only can beaccomplished. As aerators typically weigh between two and three hundredpounds, the repetitive lifting of the device by the operator can beexhausting to the operator. This can present a serious problem duringthe operation of a reasonably dangerous piece of equipment.

[0003] Yet another problem that exists with current aerators is theassembly of the plugging or coring tines on the reel or tine assembly ofthe aerator. Typically, aerators have coring tines which are sandwichedbetween parallel mounting plates. The tines are held in place by boltspassing through the mounting plates and through the tines. The mountingplates are then, typically, welded onto a shaft or a tube which is thenmounted onto a shaft to comprise the coring tube reel. It is verydifficult, if not impossible, for a user of the device to replaceindividual components of such a welded tine wheel assembly. In addition,the connection of the tine wheel assembly to the frame of the aeratormakes it difficult for a user to remove the tine wheel assembly if it ispossible to replace any parts of the tine wheel assembly.

[0004] Therefore, it would be an advantage, and is an object of thepresent invention to provide an aerator which allows the user to changethe direction of travel of the aerator while reducing the need tomanually lift the aerator tines out of contact with the ground.

[0005] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide anaerator that offers a much smaller turning radius and allows the user tore-position the aerator on the reverse line of travel adjacent to theprevious line of travel with greatly reduced effort by the operator andwithout the need to lift and pivot the aerator to achieve pivoting onthe front support or wheel of the aerator.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a tineassembly which is easily removable from the aerator and which allows theoperator of the aerator to easily change the type of tine which ismounted on the aerator and the number of tines and the spacing betweenindividual tine wheels to allow near complete user selection of the typeof aeration process being achieved. It would be a great benefit to usersand the small equipment rental industry if an aerator was provided witha easily removable tine wheel assembly which allowed the user to replaceany damaged part of the tine wheel assembly.

[0007] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide anaerator having a differential in the front axis of the device to allowgreat maneuverability of the aerator as it is operated.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a frontaxle having a differential in combination with castered rear wheels tofurther improve the maneuverability of the aerator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides an aerator having a tine wheelassembly which is easily removable by an operator. Further, the presentinvention provides a tine wheel assembly which allows the operator tochange the spacing between tine wheels and to change the number and typeof tines included in each tine wheel and to individually replace tineswhich have become damaged. A differential is provided in the front axleto increase maneuverability and to allow the user to reduce the need formanually lifting the aerator by its handle in order to and to reduce theneed to remove the tine wheels from contact with the ground during themaneuvering of the aerator. The present invention also provides acombination of a front axle differential with castered rear wheels toassist in maneuverability of the device. Further, the present inventionallows the tine wheel assembly to be raised from contact with the earthwhile power is supplied to the differential of the front axle to assistin maneuverability of the present invention. Another feature of thepresent is a non-welded, easily removable tine wheel assembly whichpermits the user to easily replace components of the assembly.

[0010] The foregoing and other objects are intended to be illustrativeof the invention and are not meant in a limiting sense. Many possibleembodiments of the invention may be made and will be readily evidentupon a study of the following specification and accompanying drawingscomprising a part thereof. Various features and subcombinations ofinvention may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. Other objects and advantages of this invention willbecome apparent from the following description taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustrationand example, an embodiment of this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is the right side and top perspective view of the aeratorof the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the tine wheel assemblyof FIG. 8 and which is shown in FIG. 2 from a direction which is thereverse of that shown in FIG. 8;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a front and right side perspective view of a tine wheel;

[0014]FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the tine wheel shown in FIG. 3.

[0015]FIG. 5 shows the lift handle of the present invention when notengaged;

[0016]FIG. 6 shows the lift handle of the present invention engaged toassist in lifting the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 7 is a front and top perspective view of the engine and powertransfer assembly of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 8 is a front and bottom perspective view of the presentinvention showing the differential on the front axle of the presentinvention and showing the tine wheel assembly in position on the frontframe of the present invention; and

[0019]FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the engine and drive train of thepresent invention and showing the idler pulley and the connection of thedrive chains to the differential and to the tine wheel assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] Referring now to FIG. 1, the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is shown as aerator 10. In its general configuration, aerator10 is comprised of handle 12 which is attached to front frame 14 whichcontains the operational components of aerator 10. Attached to frontframe 14 is rear frame 16 which is pivotally connected to front frame 14by bolts 18. Castered wheels 20 are connected to rear frame 16 and allowthe rear of aerator 10 to be easily moved any direction while relying onone of non-castered wheels 22 to act as a pivot for the move of casteredwheels 20. Front frame 14 also holds engine 24 which provides the powerfor forward movement of aerator 10 and which provides the power forrotation of tine wheel assembly 26. Also mounted on front frame 14 isweight 28 which is fitted onto weight pins 30. Weight 28 providesadditional downward force on tine wheel assembly 26 to assist in forcingtines 32 of tine wheel assembly 26 into the ground as aerator 10 isoperated.

[0021] Still referring to FIG. 1, aerator 10 is guided along its path byan operator grasping handle 12. Within reach of handle 12, the operatoralso can control rear frame lift bar 34 which is connected to rods 36and which are attached to lift flange 38. Lift flange 38 is pivotallymounted onto front frame 14 and is movable between a first position anda second position to raise or lower rear frame 16 with respect to frontframe 14. A user will wish to raise front frame 14 with respect to rearframe 16 when it is desired to disengage tine wheel assembly 26 fromcontact with the ground. Conversely, when the user wishes to engage tinewheel assembly with the ground, the user will pull rear frame lift bartoward handle 12 to raise rear frame 16 with respect to front frame 14and thereby lower tine wheel assembly 26 into contact with the ground.Another component available to the user and which is mounted on handle12 is engine throttle 40 which permits the user to advance the enginespeed. Also mounted on handle 12 is power engagement bar 42 to which isattached cable 44. As will be later described, cable 44 is connected toan idler pulley which compresses and releases a belt to transfer powerbetween engine 24 and drive shaft 86 (FIG. 7).

[0022] Referring now to FIG. 2, tine wheel assembly 26 will be describedin greater detail. Tine wheel assembly 26 is attached to front frame 14by pillow bearings 46. Use of pillow bearings 46 provides the advantagethat when maintenance work must be performed upon tine wheel assembly26, the entire tine wheel assembly 26 may be removed conveniently andeasily by simply unbolting pillow bearings 46 from front frame 14 andremoving wheel assembly 26 from beneath aerator 10. This easy removal oftine wheel assembly 26 and is an important feature of the presentinvention which, among its other benefits, allows the user to replaceindividual tines 32 or other component of tine wheel assembly 26 whichhave become damaged during use of aerator 10. In addition tine wheelassembly 26 is assembled or constructed without any parts being weldedtogether. Each part of the tine wheel assembly of the present inventioncan be disassembled thereby allowing the user to replace any part of thetine wheel assembly as desired.

[0023] Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the construction of tinewheel assembly 26 will be described in detail. Assembly 26, in general,is comprised of a number of tine wheels 48 mounted on a shaft 50. Tinewheels 48 are separated by spacers 52 which may be of whatever lengththe user believes to be appropriate for the work at hand. Each of tinewheels 48 is comprised of a pair of tine lock plates 54 a, 54 b whichhave secured therebetween a number of tines 32. Tine lock plates 54 a,54 b are spaced apart by plate spacer 53. Plate spacer 53 protects shaft50 and maintains tine lock plates 54 a, 54 b at the appropriate distanceapart for the particular tine size which is mounted on tine wheel 48.Each of tines 32 is held in place between the opposed tine lock plates54 by a single mounting bolt 56. The mounted tine 32 is furthersupported during operation by support bolt 58 which resists the forceplaced against tine 32 as tine 32 meets the ground during operation.

[0024] Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the assembly of tine wheels 48and tine wheel assembly 26 will be described. In FIG. 3, a tine wheel 48is shown with five tines extending therefrom. It should be appreciatedthat a greater number or a fewer number than five tines can be assembledonto tine wheel 48. This is accomplished through the use of eitherproviding additional mounting holes or providing alternate tine lockplates 54 which are prepared to hold a greater or lesser number oftines. It will also be appreciated that in any of such tine lock plateswhich are used in tine wheel 48 that the diameter of the tines can bevaried depending on the type of operation being performed. For example,in some cases, the operator may simply wish to use a narrow spike topoke holes into the ground and not actually remove a core of ground aswill the tines 32 shown in FIG. 4. In such a case the operator willsimply change the length of spacers 52 and 53 to take-up any extra spacealong shaft 50.

[0025] Referring now to FIG. 4, each tine wheel 48 is assembled bysecuring each of tines 32 between tine lock plates 54 a, 54 b withmounting bolts 56 which pass through mounting void 60 of tine 32 andthrough the opposed tine lock plate 54 where the mounting bolt 56 issecured by a nut 62. When the tines have been mounted between lockplates 54, support bolts 58 are introduced to pass through tine lockplates 54 and also are secured with a nut 62. When the assembled tinewheel is to be mounted on shaft 50, shaft 50 is passed through driveengagement voids 66 of tine lock plates 54 a, 54 b. It will beappreciated that drive engagement void 66 shown in the presentembodiment is rectangular in shape to match shaft 50 which also isrectangular. This shaping of shaft 50 provides a power transferringmeans which communicates the rotational power of the shaft from to shaftto at least one of tine wheels 48 while avoiding the use of weldedconnections between the shaft 50 and the tine wheels 48. It will beappreciated that such welded or permanent connections between the shaftand the tine wheels or other device mounted on shaft 50 would prevent auser from being able to dismantle the tine wheels from the shaft toreplace damages parts or to reconfigure the tine wheels on shaft 50.Alternate shapes can such a hexagonal or pentagonal cross-section andwhich are effective for transferring power also could be used for shaft50 and drive engagement void 66. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that a round shaft cross-section and a round engagement void66 would not accomplish a transfer of power from shaft 50 to the tinewheel 48 which is slidably mounted thereon.

[0026] Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a lift handle and lockout meanswill be described which permits the user to conveniently lift aerator 10which is both a bulky and heavy object. Also the lift handle,simultaneously prevents rear frame 16 from collapsing against frontframe 14 during the manual movement of aerator 10.

[0027] Referring now to FIG. 5, lift handle 70 is shown in its unusedposition in which it is pivoted against rear frame 16 of aerator 10.When the operator wishes to lift aerator 10 to place aerator 10 in theback of a vehicle or to lift aerator 10 over an obstacle such as a lowwall or other obstruction, the user, after shutting down engine 24,pulls rearwardly on rear frame lift bar 34. This draws lift flange 38into the position which lowers rear frame 16, thus effectively raisingfront frame 14 and tine wheel assembly 26 off the ground. The user thengrasps lift handle 70 and pulls outwardly causing lift handle 70 torotate around pivot 72 and place lockout flange 74 underneath liftflange 38. This prevents inadvertent shifting of lift flange 38 into theposition which would raise rear frame 16 and which could result in thepinching of the fingers of the user's other hand or the fingers ofanother person who has placed their hands about rear frame 16 to assistin lifting aerator 10. Once aerator 10 has been moved into its newposition, user simply releases lift handle 70 which pivots back into itsat rest position shown in FIG. 5 and restores lift flange 38 to anoperable mode.

[0028] Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, the power train of the presentinvention will be described. As previously mentioned, the use of a frontaxle differential in combination with castered rear wheels assists inthe maneuverability of aerator 10 and reduces the amount of effortrequired by the user to turn aerator 10 into a reverse path. Thiscombination also reduces the turning radius required by the presentinvention as compared to other aerator devices. In FIG. 7, engine powertakeoff pulley 80 is shown attached to engine 24. Belt 82 passes aroundengine power takeoff pulley 80 and transfers the power to drive shaftpulley 84 which is part of power shaft 86. Also mounted on power shaft86 by means of gears are differential chain drive 88 and tine wheelassembly chain drive 90.

[0029] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the connection of differential chaindrive 88 is shown on differential 92 and the connection of tine wheelchain drive 90 is shown connecting to a gear which is a part of tinewheel assembly 26. It will be appreciated that engine power takeoffpulley 80 (FIG. 9) is always rotating when engine 24 is operatingalthough use of engine throttle 40 may reduce or increase the amount oftorque being applied to engine power takeoff pulley 80. Therefore, asshown in FIG. 9, to engage and disengage the transfer of power fromengine power takeoff pulley 80 to drive pulley 84 an idler pulley 98 isused to compress belt 82 sufficiently to cause rotation of drive pulley84 or to release tension on belt 82 and to provide enough slack thatdrive pulley 84 does not rotate. Referring to FIG. 7, the tensioning andrelease of idler pulley 98 is accomplished by the user compressing powerengagement bar 42 (FIG. 1) against handle 12 which causes tension oncable 44 which is passed to spring 94 which pulls on idler pulley flange96 and compresses idler pulley 98 against belt 82 to transfer power fromengine power transfer pulley 80 to drive pulley 84.

[0030] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that at alltimes when drive pulley 84 is engaged, power is transferred to both tinewheel assembly 26 and to differential 92. This allows the user to bettermanipulate the path of travel of aerator 10 when tine wheel assembly isengaged in the ground and especially when the tine wheel assembly hasbeen disengaged from the ground as previously described. The combinationof differential 92 on front axle 100 of aerator 10 and the casteredwheels at the rear of aerator 10 and the ability to mechanically raisethe tine wheel assembly while having power to the front axle, providesthe user with far greater maneuverability of aerator 10 than isavailable in other conventional aerators which either do not have afront axle having a differential or instead of a front axle have a largehollow drum, usually filled with water, to add weight to the aerator. Ina typical circumstance, the prior art type of aerator using a weighteddrum as a front axle or an axle not containing a differential willrequire a turning radius of 10 to 15 feet to reverse the direction ofthe aerator. The present invention reduces this turning radius to adistance of 2 to 5 feet depending upon the slope of the ground beingworked.

[0031] In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used forbrevity, clearness and understanding; but no unnecessary limitations areto be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art,because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended tobe broadly construed. Moreover, the description and illustration of theinventions is by way of example, and the scope of the inventions is notlimited to the exact details shown or described. Certain changes may bemade in embodying the above invention, and in the construction thereof,without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It isintended that all matter contained in the above description and shown inthe accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and notmeant in a limiting sense.

[0032] Having now described the features, discoveries and principles ofthe invention, the manner in which the inventive aerator is constructedand used, the characteristics of the construction, and advantageous, newand useful results obtained; the new and useful structures, devices,elements, arrangements, parts and combinations, are set forth in theappended claims. It is also to be understood that the following claimsare intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of theinvention herein described, and all statements of the scope of theinvention which, as a matter of language, might be said to falltherebetween.

1. A lawn aerator comprising: an engine, a front frame portion, a frontaxle attached to said front frame portion, said front axle having adifferential mounted thereon, a tine wheel assembly mounted on saidfront frame portion, a drive belt to deliver power to said front axledifferential and to said tine wheel assembly; a rear frame portionconnected to said front frame portion, a castered rear wheel attached tosaid rear frame portion, and means to move said rear wheels between afirst raised position and a second lowered position, said raisedposition placing said tine wheel assembly in contact with the ground andsaid lowered position raising said tine wheel assembly from contact withthe ground. 2-30. (cancelled)